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ShareWe're off to Thailand
Our Joni and Friends/Bay Area team is heading this week to Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist nation that includes more than 6 million people with disabilities. From January 18 - February 3, our Wheels for the World team will be distributing wheelchairs, Bibles, and Joni's book in the Thai language, giving the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people with disabilities and their families. Part of our Joni and Friends team arrived...
Total Access in 2012
“It was the best outreach into Peru we’ve had to date!” John Wern, special projects director, said when he recently returned from Peru where he led a Joni and Friends’ Total Access team. What is Total Access? There exists a critical lack of access for people with disabilities in developing nations, so we put together small teams of construction professionals (who often labor alongside our Wheels for the World teams) to build ramps and widen doorways, etc. – it's a very practical way to demonstrate the love of Christ. While in Peru, our Total Access workers built 8 ramps in 4 days in preparation for our International Family Retreat to be held in Peru this coming April. Twelve Peruvian military personnel from worked side-by-side with our team, during which time they heard the Good News of Jesus and accepted Christ as Savior. Are you handy with tools? Consider serving with us through Total Access.
Wheels for the World in 'Arabic!'
Our Wheels team serving in Jordan is seeing much fruit for their efforts – team leaders Gene and Monique write, "As we fit wheelchairs to children with disabilities, it's a privilege to work side-by-side with Jordanians, spreading the vision of good care for those with special needs. It was also a joy to have a young pastor from East Amman bring a number of disabled people from his neighborhood. As we help him help his neighbors, it is good to know that he will continue to encourage them...
Meet Two Inspiring Young Students!
Last week two 5th grade girls, Ariel and Jessica, from Hillcrest Christian School delivered 500 Gospel bracelets to our Wheels for the World department. Stephen Crooks, director of Wheels for the World, congratulated the students as Steve Bundy, vice president of Joni and Friends, looked on. Ariel and Jessica were inspired to help after Steve spoke at their school chapel last year. The girls organized a 'Gospel bracelet project' for the 4–6th grade classes in order to get more kids involved and more bracelets made. Special note: Ariel and Jessica are both Girl Scouts, and this special project earned them their Bronze Award. Congratulations to these two extraordinary students!
Wheels in 3 Nations this Week!
Right now, our Wheels teams are distributing wheelchairs and Bibles in Peru, Cuba, and the Middle East nation of Jordan! They will be serving children with disabilities like Cusmaylin (Koos-MAY-lynn). This little four-year-old is blind and hasn't been able to walk since birth. All day long, Cusmaylin lies on the floor while her mother, Sylvia, works in their home. “I read in the Bible that God can do anything,” Sylvia said, “but here in my country, a wheelchair is only for the rich. Even God can’t change that.” But Luke 18:27 says, “What is impossible with men is possible with...
A "Sew-In" for Wheels for the World
Volunteers are truly the backbone of our ministry , and recently the women of Church in the Canyon in Calabasas, California held a "Sew In" for Wheels for the World. Young and old alike brought their sewing machines to stitch 'pocket bags' for wheelchairs and walkers – even 10-year-old Brontë brought her mini 2-speed sewing machine. Our Wheels teams take these beautiful (and very practical) pocket bags on outreach trips for distribution to disabled children and adults. Marilyn Rosenberg, organizer of the "Sew In" said, "We ladies had such a grand time, we can't wait to do it again." Our hats off to the girls of Church in the Canyon for providing such personal gifts with every wheelchair and walker!
Wheels for the World in Haiti
Get a glimpse of our Wheels for the World outreach at a recent wheelchair distribution in Haiti.
A Life God Changed through You...
Genecis is a little girl with shining eyes filled with love. But she can’t express it. Born with cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder, Genecis has never spoken and cannot walk. But when she was lifted into a shiny new pediatric wheelchair, joy burst over her little face. That's when we introduced a “communication board” to Genecis’ mom, Luisa – she opened a book filled with simple signs that her daughter could point at to communicate her needs and thoughts (things like “eat,” “tired” “happy” “sleep”). Luisa and Genecis picked out their very own signs and a communication board was made. Seated in her new wheelchair with her brand new communication board on her lap...
Finding the Father's Love… In Thailand!
Orapin and her 10-year-old daughter, Dear who has cerebral palsy, live in the mountains of Thailand. Orapin looked everywhere for help until at a tiny village hospital in northern Thailand, they told her about our Wheels for the World team. “Go there,” they said, “they will show you love.” So Orapin packed up Dear and traveled through the night to reach our Wheels team. As a wheelchair was fitted for Dear, the Gospel and a Thai Bible was shared with her mother. It was the first time Orapin and her daughter heard about a loving Heavenly Father (in her culture, “fatherhood” is a harsh concept...
Our Wheels for the World Warden's Conference
Wardens from our partner prisons came to the IDC last week for a special conference – these are the wardens who have chosen Wheels for the World as an educational/ works program for their inmates. They told us the men love working on our wheelchairs. Last weekend we finished up our conference covering best practices, safety, team building, and our new ‘universal foot pedal’ for the wheelchairs. We were especially blessed when the supervisor for the Wheels shop at Angola Prison in Louisiana presented a check for our outreach (the inmates all chipped in). Doug Mazza, president of Joni and Friends...
